Tanker manufacturer opens second factory

Road Tankers Northern (RTN) has opened a second factory in Barnsley.

Founded in 1991, RTN is growing steadily and has now expanded its Barnsley headquarters and built a new specialist manufacturing facility at nearby Birdwell. RTN, which counts Shell, DHL, Tesco and Morrisons among its customers, can now offer tankers to the chemical, pharmaceutical, dairy and brewery industries.

RTN, which also has factories in Birmingham, Sheffield and Northern Ireland, now has a share of around 80-90% of the UK petroleum semi-trailers market.

Positive news for UK manufacturing

“Foreign competition has dramatically reduced due to our expanding production which is very positive news for UK manufacturing,” said operations director Don Mckelvie. “We’re now supplying most of the fuel distribution companies and we supply all four major supermarkets.”

Owned by the NWT Group, which was founded by South Yorkshire-based businessmen Paul Wright and Frank Newell, RTN is recording year on year growth and is set to turnover £11.2m in 2013. The company has increased its workforce from 88 to126 in two years with a number of apprentices now learning specialist trades on both the tanker manufacture side and in RTN’s five bay-service and repair centre. RTN plans to recruit a further 15-20 staff this summer.

Regional support

RTN is supported by Barnsley Business and Innovation Centre (BBIC) through the Enterprising Barnsley programme with funding assistance from Barnsley Council. Additional support has been received from Barnsley Development Agency to access funding from the Regional Growth Fund.

“The growth of RTN has been exceptional in the past two years and we owe a debt of gratitude to Enterprising Barnsley and BBIC who have been pillars of support, particularly with regards to lean manufacturing and expansion,” added Don.

Kevin Steel, BBIC business development manager said: “RTN not only manufactures tankers to the highest quality, it’s also creating skilled jobs and training the next generation through its apprenticeship scheme. We are delighted to provide business support to RTN.”